THE high street suffered its worst Christmas sales in 14 years, figures revealed yesterday.

Stores shifted just 0.3% more products last month than they did in December 2011, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said – much weaker than experts had predicted.

Leaving aside the big freeze of 2010, it was the slowest December result since 1998.

The findings cap the most depressing week for the high street since ­Woolworths collapsed in 2008.

More than 8,600 jobs are at risk after first HMV, then Blockbuster, plunged into administration in the space of a few days.

They fell shortly after photographic chain Jessops collapsed and just weeks after electrical giant Comet went to the wall.

In all, nearly 16,700 retail jobs have either gone in the past seven weeks or are in danger.

The weak retail figures for December have fuelled speculation that the economy shrank in the last quarter of 2012 when the ONS releases it latest data on Friday.

If the economy fails to pick up at the start of this year, the country could be plunged into a triple-dip recession.

Yesterday’s data showed retail sales by volume fell by 0.1% between November and December last year.

Retail sales by value were 0.7% higher year-on-year in December. Vicky Redwood, from Capital Economics, said: “It was a fairly lacklustre festive period for the high street and provided more evidence that the UK has slipped into a triple dip.”

Peter Saville, from restructuring firm Zolfo Cooper, said: “While 2013 appears to be heading in a similar direction, the fact that many businesses, including John Lewis and Dixons, are still performing well means that all is not lost.”